The New Zealand men's hockey team crashed to their second big loss at the elite Champions Trophy tournament in Germany today.
They went down 2-5 to Olympic champions Germany, 48 hours after suffering a 1-9 loss to world champions Australia at Monchengladbach.
The New Zealanders trailed 0-2 at halftime beforeNorth Harbour striker Nick Wilson reduced the difference with their first goal in the 46th minute from a great reserve stick move.
However, the Germans responded almost immediately through Martin Haner then went 4-1 clear through Florian Fuchs.
Auckland striker Simon Child scored a second for New Zealand in the 65th minute but there was still time for Germany to extend their lead with the final goal to Moritz Furste.
New Zealand's next match is against the Netherlands on Wednesday morning (NZT).
Coach Shane McLeod says they should be more competitive against the Netherlands, England and Spain. He says they have been relatively close against those sides in recent times.
SCORE
Germany 5 (Christoph Menke, Florian Woesch, Martin Haner, Florian Fuchs, Moritz Furste), New Zealand 2 (Nick Wilson, Simon Child). Halftime: 2-0.
